The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-02-26
t4OW TO SAVE MONEY.
Rules Whose Observance Would Add to the
Happiness OF Mankind.

Rules Whose Observance Would Add to tbs
Happiness OF Mankind
Keep cash account A very trivial
and secular suggestion, you may sav,
but simple as it is, it is one the observ-
ance of which would add immensely to
the present limited amount of practical
Righteousness and happiness. BY a cash
account is meant merely an account of
money received and paid out, and not
bookkeeping as in business.
am aware that there is a large class
of sensible and well-meaning persons
who would say: II receive so much
and | try to save Il little" Let me say
to such persons that by not knowing
exactly how they spend their limited
earnings they miss learning one of the
most important lessons of life. The
habit itself of keeping accounts is a
good discipline; it lesson in memory
and order, and accuracy and business
methods. But more than this, it teaches
one hoU to spend money. AS money
represents the greater part of what we
do, and of our relation to the world,
we do not know what we do, nor how
we are related to the world, until we
know how we spend our money. To
receive so much and spend it for
what we happen to need, and
make no farther note of it, is like
guessing at the time of day. We insist
to the minute on the accuracy of our
watches, but how our income is divided
up is guess-work. 1t would help man
amazingly to correct estimate of his
life if he knew accurately how and when
and for what he spent his money. There
is no other way in which a well-mean-
ing man can properly adjust this great
factor in his life. BY an account, he
can see how much has gone into the
several departments of expenditure, and
a review of it will show him whether he
has been wise or foolish, prudent OF
careless, true to himself and family
land society. or whether he has been
unequal or ungenerous or .over-indul.
gent to any. We apply science, and
close, accurate methods to all forms OF
labor; why should we not apply them
to the use we make of the product OF
labor?
The poorer Il man is, the more he re.
quires this habit of accurate accounts:
the less there is to divide, the more need
of care. He thus learns at the proper
moment where to retrench, or in what
direction he may wisely spend more.
1t saves also much trouble and dispute.
Bookkeepers are not infallible, and
memory is poor witness against them
but when books are kept on both sides
misunderstanding is greatly lessened
The habit also has a distinct moral
value. One who has rightly measured
human society will have conscientious
sense of the use of money which is i'm
perative, and will approve or condemn
ones self accordingly. Wecould make
no better scrutiny of ourselves than tc
take, at the end of year, carefully
kept account of money spent, and sec
how it has been used; how much fol
necessities; how much for luXIIries
how much for self; how much fol
others; how much for books; how
much for passing pleasures; how
much for the good of the world and
how much for the pride of life; how
much for the body and how much for
the mind; how much wasted and how
much wisely used. Tabulate these, and
then lay them beside your manhood
and standard of duty and purpose in
life, and see # they are sustained. This
is part of that self-inspection-t
moral inventory of himself that every
man should make at least once year;
for we need not only an interior look
at ourselves, but one from the outside
and reflected by our conduct. Such a
habit as this would help us in that field
of minor morals where we often make
our gravest mistakes. But aside from
this, it is habit that tends greatly to
simplify and smooth and straighten the
details of life. 1t teaches prudence,
Judgment, foresight, and so creates an
atmosphere of dignity about the life
For money and the money side of life is
to be treated respectfully and thoroughly
and in high, business-like ways even
by those who have little of it.-RcU. j.
Z, Manager, d. d., IN Golden Rule.